Researchers from the Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Bromatology at the University of Alicante (UA) have developed a new packaging material containing agri-food waste from the pineapple processing industry suitable for preserving meat products for longer. Through the circular economy project Valpipack, they have managed to develop “an active antioxidant packaging from pineapple cores that can increase the shelf life of packaged meat products by 15%,” explains the project’s lead researcher and UA professor Ana Beltrán (pictured).

This project is an example of reuse and revaluation of agri-food waste since, in the case of pineapple, some 435,000 tonnes of waste are generated annually, which leads to an environmental problem and involves the loss of 360 million euros.

“Of all the pineapple imported into the European Union, approximately half is sold directly and the other half is processed. Sixty percent of the product generated during this processing phase corresponds to by-products such as the crown, skin and core of the pineapple”, Beltrán points out. Traditionally, these pineapple by-products have been used for animal feed, disposed of as waste in landfills or burned to produce energy. However, adds the AU researcher, these by-products are a potential source of high added-value substances that, as in the case of the central zone, the heart of the pineapple, “has a very interesting composition with antioxidant properties”.

Thanks to the extraction of bioactive substances from the pineapple core and their incorporation into a polymeric matrix intended for active packaging, the AU researchers have validated their antioxidant effect in products such as minced meat. The shelf life of these meat products is very limited, ranging from 4 to 10 days depending on the product and its storage conditions.